December 20, 1969, in the forested area adjacent to the Courtney Rubber Plantation, twenty two K’s north of the Australian base at Nui Dat, astride the border of Phoc Tuy and Long Khan provinces, a sentry from our group fired at a group of enemy who departed firing back as they did so.

The sentry was adamant that he hit the soldier he fired upon, a clearing patrol searched the area and found nothing, throughout the day and on into the night, moans betrayed the presence of a wounded man beyond our perimeter, exciting the pity of Private Henry Kennell who called for a medic to go to his aid, I grabbed my medical kit and rose to attend this man.

Lieutenant Adrian Lombardo ordered me to resume my defensive position, and asserted that no one was to leave the perimeter .. early in the morning of the following day Pte Kennell came to the Lieutenant, and pleaded that he might guide me to the man so we could administer aid, and see to his safe evacuation!

I hurried to Pte Kennell, and proceeded in the direction of the injured man .. the officer ordered me to resume my position, and reiterated his command that no aid be given .. he ordered a killer group assembled who would go forth and kill the man, I said no way and proceeded in his direction.

Telling them I was gonna attend this man and see to it that he was properly repatriated to hospital care, and that I joined the Army to be a soldier not a murderer, and like it or not I was going to bring aid to this man.

Quote:

Sergeant Peter Buckney was chewing gum open mouthed grinning ear to ear, elated at the opportunity to kill an injured man, went for his M16 rifle his body language suggesting he was gonna shoot me.

I stood mute .. a group under Cpl Poulson went forth and murdered him .. charges of capital murder under Geneva War Crimes Legislation, should be brought against Adrian Lombardo, Peter Buckney, Kevin Poulson, and Raymond Colgrave!

September 1970, laying up at night on the Border of Phouc Tuy and Bien Hoa provinces in South Vietnam, at the bottom left hand corner on the map, on the part that runs due North / South.

M 72

Quote:

Around twenty clicks south west of US Fire Support Base Black Horse, on a raised roadway, overgrown and inaccessible by wheeled vehicles, that could be as old as the ancient Vietnamese Kingdom .. 9:30 pm it had been raining, the Moon was disappearing between the rainclouds causing shine and shadow!

There were troop movements about two hundred meters down, by 04:30 the following morning about two and a half thousand enemy had passed across our front .. around 11:00 pm that night, first the squeal of worn out bearings then the screech of un greased tracks, beside Corporal Kevin Poulson I said, "that's a tank," he grunted.

I said come on man we gotta get after it, I turned inwards and spoke to the other groups that we must be quick.. no one moved a muscle .. the tank climbed up on to the raised section, crossed over and went down the other side, the next night another one did the same thing going the same way, the troops were going left to right the tanks were rollin' right to left, toward Saigon.

On the second night, when the tank's engine was roaring about two hundred meters away, I told Lieutenant Matthew Faulkner, he turned the fire hose on one of our ppl in cells at Vung Tau weeks before, that we must deploy our M 72 light anti tank weapons, and blow the tank to pieces, that they were chicken the night before, and they have a perfect opportunity to redeem themselves!

He grunted the same way Paulson had, who had gone forth in December the previous year, and killed a wounded enemy soldier I had wished to save .. Lieutenant Matthew "Firehose" Faulkner, Corporals Kevin Poulson and Malcolm Edwards, should have been put against a wall and shot for cowardice in the face of the enemy!

In the early morning of May 1, 1970, during military ops in Phoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, without warning Private Dennis Brennan fired a seven round burst from M60 machine gun killing L/Cpl Phillip Goody, and Pte Phillip Earl.

Quote:

Brennen's burst caught Phil Goody in the left deltoid, the entry wounds forming a group of around forty mm across, they had traveled not so terribly far beneath the skin, and exited in a group between his left shoulder blade and his armpit, leaving a wound about sixty mm long and forty broad.

The same burst had entered Phil Earle in his mid section rear, and exited thru his lower abdominal region, his intestines were protruding and he had lost most of his blood, he died about within twenty seconds.

Hours later after the helicopter evacuation and as the Sun was rising, Brennan said "..if you've got any more we'll kill them too." The case will not be deemed closed until he is hangin' by his neck dead, charged tried and convicted of capital murder, with the other chicken livered cowards who murdered an injured man!

The operational map that has US Fire Support Base Black Horse, a section of which appeared on the story Cowardice and Murder - Australians in Vietnam, has been in my possession since I removed it from the wall of an abandoned Command Post in Vietnam in November 1970!